A refrigerator unit is an apparatus that functions to store food at low temperatures. The refrigerator unit may store foods in a frozen or refrigerated state according to the type of food intended to be stored
The interior of the refrigerator is cooled by cold air that is continuously supplied to the refrigerator unit. The cold air is continuously generated through heat exchanging between air and a refrigerant performed in a refrigeration cycle including a compression-condensation-expansion-evaporation process. The cold air supplied into the refrigerator is evenly transferred to the interior of the refrigerator by convection, so that the cold air can store food, drink, and other items within the refrigerator unit at desired temperatures.
The main body of a refrigerator unit typically has a rectangular, hexahedral shape which is open at the front surface thereof. The main body may have a refrigeration chamber and a freezer chamber defined therein. Further, hinged doors may be fitted to the front surface of the main body selectively open and/or close openings to the refrigeration chamber and the freezer chamber. In addition, the storage space defined inside the refrigeration chamber and the freezer chamber of the refrigerator unit may include a plurality of drawers, shelves, and storage boxes, etc. that are configured for optimally storing various kinds of foods, drinks, and other items.
Conventionally, refrigerator units were configured as a top-mount type refrigerator, in which a freezer chamber is positioned in the upper part of the main body, and the refrigeration chamber is positioned in the lower part of the main body. In recent years, to enhance user convenience bottom-freezer type refrigerators position the freezer chamber below the refrigeration chamber. In the bottom-freezer type refrigerator, the more frequently used refrigeration chamber is advantageously positioned in the upper part of the main body so that a user may conveniently access the refrigeration compartment without bending over at the waist, as previously required by the top-mount refrigerator. The less frequently used freezer chamber is positioned in the lower part of the main body.
However, a bottom-freezer type refrigerator, in which the freezer chamber is provided in the lower part, may lose its design benefits when a user wants to access the lower freezer chamber more frequently than anticipated, such as to take ice cubes. In a bottom-freezer type refrigerator, the user would have to bend over at the waist in order to open the freezer chamber door and access the ice cubes.
In order to solve this problem, bottom-freezer type refrigerators may include an ice dispenser for dispensing ice cubes that is provided in a refrigeration chamber door. In this case, the ice dispenser is also placed in the upper part of a bottom-freezer type refrigerator, and more specifically is located above the freezer chamber. In this refrigerator unit, an ice maker for making ice cubes may be provided in the refrigeration chamber door, in the interior of the refrigeration chamber.
The ice maker may include an ice making assembly having an ice tray which makes ice (e.g., ice cubes), an ice bucket which stores the ice, and a transfer assembly for transferring the ice stored in the bucket to the dispenser.
The ice making assembly may include a heater. The heater may emit heat for separating the ice from the ice making assembly. Specifically, ice making recesses may be formed in an upper surface of the tray, and water stored in the recesses is frozen into ice. The heater may emit heat to slightly melt the ice, such that the ice can be easily separated from the ice making recesses.
However, the heat emitted by the heater interacts with cold air that is supplied to the tray, and a heat exchange between the heat and the cold air is performed, which reduces the cold air available for freezing water to ice. As a result, both the cooling efficiency and the ice separation efficiency are lowered.
In addition, the tray may be provided with a bottom surface thereof including a plurality of cooling ribs extending in a longitudinal direction of the tray. The cooling ribs increase the contact area between the tray and the cold air.
What is needed is an efficient way to make ice within a refrigerator unit.